Yep. I review a hand cream I bought only yesterday. [deadpan voice] Go me. Oh the sheer brilliance of it all. [/deadpan voice]

But I just wanted to tell you that sometimes even a 1000 HUF hand cream can do wonders with one's weatherbeaten hands. By the way, buying this hand cream was totally not my stroke of genius: it was Ladybird's, so my hands and I hereby thank her for it. :-)

Onto the product itself then.

I must admit I haven't paid much attention to the brand Aldo Vandini before, but that is definitely going to change. Aldo Vandini is a German brand selling natural beauty products, and in Hungary they're available in Drogerie Markt stores. They have several lines, each with a different fragrance. The Sensitiv line smells pretty tolerable to me: this hand cream, for example, has a sort of clean but powdery fragrance that even I, the gourmet scent lover, can stand.

The product comes in a 100 ml (3.4 FL.OZ) plastic tube that has a flip-top cap and a really nice design on its label. It's a bit too heavy to carry with me in my bag*, but I might just take it with me to my workplace one day and put it in one of my desk drawers to always have it at hand. :-D

* Want to know how much hand cream I'm willing to carry in my bag? Well, I only bought Silk Naturals' Eyelash Conditioning Gel because I figured that it'll have to run out eventually, and then I'll have the perfect 4,5 ml pump bottle to fill with my fave hand-lotion and put in my handbag. My previous job and lifestyle have made me abhor excess weight...

The cream itself is white and has an extremely good formula: it moisturizes really well and is also perfectly capable of sealing that moisture in. Also, a big plus is that even though it doesn't contain any silicone, it makes my hands just as soft as they would be if it did.

When I bought this product, I knew that Ladybird and her hands had not seen eye-to-eye on some issues in the past (e.g.: "To crack or not to crack?"), but I also knew that she has a pretty high opinion of this cream, and knowing that made me give the product a try.

Let me tell you I have not regretted it for a second. It beats all my expensive and hyped-up creams, such as LUSH's Smitten, The Body Shop's body butters, Bioderma's Atoderm hand cream and Atoderm body lotion (my fave), or even my second favorite dermo body lotion LRP's Lipikar. It sinks in fast, leaves my hands super-moisturized for the longest time ever, and makes my skin smooth and silky and also pleasantly fragrant. What more could a girl want from her hand-cream? Oh yeah: it's also relatively cheap. ;-)

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Thanks for the info, I'll probably give it a try after I finish my Neutrogena.I've been wanting to ask you for a while, could you maybe post a price in dollars or euros? It's pretty hard to relate to the huf, I always have to use a calculator and stuff :P

Sure thing Epurica, I was just always sort of hesitant about it, because exchange rates tend to change a lot with time. But I guess prices in Euros would still give Readers a closer estimate and make things easier for them. Thanks for the suggestion, now that I think about it I see that you're absolutely right. Will do it from now on. :-))

Neutrogena's ok, it's my favourite from what I've tried so far. But I do have to mention I use cotton gloves with it at night, and when I remove them my hands are like SO soft!Thanks for mentioning the price in euros, it's really helpful :D

Oh, on a non related topic, I've been wanting to ask you for a while now: could you maybe make those flash things not start by default? They seem to be slowing my pc pretty bad, and I have to stop them after every click I make :) Sorry for giving you trouble, but I imagine I might not be the only one with this problem...

Wow, thanks for the award! I've been meaning to give out some awards for ages, so be ready to receive a few yourself. ;-)

But it's a real surprise that you don't need hand cream in Finland. You're really lucky with your hands you know. :-)

I will get back to all my friends' e-mails very soon, I promise. :)

Hi Epurica!

Thanks for letting me know! I wouldn't want people not to be able to access my blog or to experience problems when they do. I've removed those two Flash objects and will try to come up with some alternative for them. (Well at least for the swatch gallery.)

Thanks for the heads-up! :-))

Could you please let me know if things are okay now, or if you're still experiencing problems? It would be extremely helpful. Thank you! :)

Izar: Yeah I know! Most of my friends use hand cream, even some guy friends. Before my mom goes to sleep at night, she puts on a thick layer of hand cream and then wears thin cotton gloves. I've never had any problems with my hands! Well, saves me some € :D

It's nice seeing you back! I read about you trip and I am happy you had a good time. ;) I'm really glad you liked this handcream! :-) I have used Smitten, Bioderma, LRP Lipikar before but despite the fact that I liked all of them, this is the best. :-) I've tried two Aldo Vandini body lotions as well, one from the same line and the other with aloe vera and white tea. They are both great but for hands I will stay with the Sensitive line - it doesn't hurt my hands even if the skin cracks beacuse of the weather.

Sagu I've got to try this cotton glove trick: both your mom and Epurica employ it and it seems to be working really well for people who do. I just have to get a pair of gloves. :)

Hi Ladybird!

Thanks! :-)) I'm really happy I got a chance to "see the world" again too. :)

I was actually wondering about their body lotions, so it's great to hear your favorable opinion on them. I might just get one from the Sensitive line or perhaps the one with red grapes. Not that I don't have enough body lotions already... :-D

Btw, call me crazy but I've also started using the hand cream as a foot lotion. And it works miracles! It's not the best if I want to massage my feet, because it sinks in really fast, but it moisturizes and gets rid of what calloused skin I have in seconds.

I'm also pondering whether to get mini sizes (7g) of Burt's Bees hand creams from EBay or not. Do you think they're actually worth it?

Well, I was just pondering about the Aldo vandini's body lotions as well - I found one with vanille and macadamie. :-D I think I will try it next. Burts bees creams: they are okay, especially on cold days (or nights, with gloves ;)), because the cream makes a barrier on the skin. But they are quite greasy and don't sink in the skin as easily, like the Atoderm or the Aldo Vandini line. Right now I am using Cerave as a handcream (I didn't use gloves for about an hour today, my mistake) and it seems to work. :-)

Ladybird: We went on a guided bus tour around Budapest today: we spent a lot of time outside (The Castle, walking around the Royal Palace) and in very cold buildings (the Basilica), I had no gloves of course, and my hands are still baby soft thanks to this hand cream! :-)

Btw, I used to have the bath-foam and the body butter from the Vanilla line way back (when it had shea-butter instead of macadamia), but I wasn't very fond of the smell; it was too strong to begin with, and there was just something about it that I didn't like.

I asked Mum to get me the hand cream from the Spirit of India line, but it turns out it has dimethicone in it and some lousy UV protection. (There's a drop of avobenzone in there somewhere...) Smells nice, but I like the Sensitive's scent best. :)

I guess I'll postpone that Burt's Bees experiment until next winter. :-) Thanks!

A guided bus tour? Great idea but where did it come from? :-)And no gloves in this weather? Brrr, I went for a walk today but it wasn't so great with all the wind. :-/

Well, I just bought the Vanille body lotion and it's instant love! :-) Maybe it's not the same that you used to have because it really doesn't have a strong vanille scent. I can't stand very sweet smelling creams or body lotions (or perfumes ;)) but this has a soft, alluring scent.

It was organized by the school where I'm learning to become a tour-guide. :-) They wanted to show us what this whole business looks like in real life.

We started at Heroes' Square, went along Andrássy Street, stopped for a while at the Parliament, visited the Basilica, and went on up to the Castle and the Royal Palace. We didn't have time for Mathias Church, so the bus took us back to Kossuth Square. It was beautiful, especially the Basilica: previously I had only seen it in very bad lighting, but today we managed to visit at a great time: we were there at about 10 AM, the sky was clear, and the sun shone in through the windows of the dome illuminating the entire place. It was magical! ^_^

And yeah, by the of it all I was practically an ice-cube, but my hands survived the ordeal. :-D

I'll definitely give AV's new Vanilla line a try! I love vanilla, so it'd be great to find an entire line of it.

Btw, I bought a Rimmel Volume Booster Lip Plump Gloss at DM for 500 HUF: it's a very pretty sheer pink color, has some shimmer in it, does contain some mint, but I don't mind at all, and even seems to "plump" my lips slightly. :-)